A licensed bank serving corporate foreign-trade clients: fiat in and out plus the settlement leg, with the digital part hidden from the client.
A licensed bank serves foreign-trade clients who prefer to work through a familiar bank rather than directly with settlement tokens. The digital part of settlement is hidden from the client — to them it is an ordinary currency payment.
Accepts the client's payment order in their currency and arranges the cross-currency payment on their behalf. The client does not handle tokens — they interact only with their own bank.
Takes on the fiat in/out and the settlement part on behalf of the corporate client. To the client it all looks like a standard currency payment through a settlement account.
Supports client operations with currency control, documents, and certificates as required by the national regulator — within its active banking licence.
Buys settlement tokens of the required currencies from an issuer or liquidity provider and connects to the Surelle infrastructure via API. On-chain it is a direct participant with foreign-trade servicing privileges.
From the client's order to credit of the recipient. For the client it is one currency payment; the settlement mechanics are performed by the bank on the infrastructure.
The diagram is illustrative and simplifies the actual flow.
Income is generated by currency servicing of foreign-trade clients. The direction of income is described qualitatively, without rates or fees in figures.
The main source — the bank's own markup on the conversion rate when buying and selling currency for the client, on top of the rate obtained via the infrastructure.
Fees for currency servicing: currency control, preparing documents and certificates, maintaining foreign-trade client accounts at the bank's rates.
Income on the client's funds held temporarily in the bank's settlement account between the order and credit to the recipient.
Related banking products for foreign-trade clients: trade financing, guarantees, letters of credit, escrow.
The direction of income is shown qualitatively. Specific terms are agreed at partner onboarding.
Both roles work with settlement tokens, but differently. The issuer issues tokens and holds the reserve; the foreign-trade bank buys them and uses them for client payments.
Issues settlement tokens of its currency and redeems them at par. Holds fiat reserves with 1:1 backing and is responsible for the collateral. It is the settlement node for a currency in its jurisdiction.
Does not issue tokens and does not hold 1:1 reserves. Buys ready tokens from an issuer or liquidity provider and uses them for the currency payments of its corporate clients.
A single bank can combine both roles, but these are different functions with a different legal basis. The specific model is determined at onboarding.
An active banking and currency licence, including foreign-trade servicing. Its own compliance, currency control, and AML follow the requirements of the national regulator.
Surelle/4pay is a technology provider without a licence of its own. The licensed banking activity and regulatory responsibility rest with the resident bank.
The bank enters partnership agreements with issuers and liquidity providers to access tokens of the required currencies; integration with the Surelle infrastructure runs via API. Terms are set at onboarding.
This information is for reference only and is not legal or investment advice. The specific legal classification is determined at KYB onboarding and depends on the jurisdiction.